will a powerbook g4 be fast on the web

Later PowerBooks are still very capable of doing productivity work like word processing, spreadsheets, etc. However, many web sites are no longer optimized for the PowerPC processor used in PowerBooks. Generally, web video witb be choppy at best and a slide show at the other extreme.

Even without video, these Apple forums, since the change in the underlying forum software Apple uses about two years ago, are very sluggish on even our fastest G4 Macs.

For some reason, late model powerbooks in decent condition still command US$300-600 on the used market for some reason, bit you can get an 13-inch MacBook Pro as a refurb for just over US$1000.

If you go with any PPC Mac, you will be forced into searching for used compatible verisons of popular software. Few current program versions support PowerPC Macs any more.

Powerbook G4's are still capable of online surfing. Most of the updates for the modern browsers like Firefox and Chrome have stopped for the PowerPC architecture though. I owned an iBook G4 for quite some awhile and the Internet was extremely slow and pages would freeze. But the PowerBook G4 is more powerful, so it should handle better. I say this because I have a quad core PowerMac G5, and it still flies on the Internet like my new Macbook Pro. Another factor to look at is that Flash support stopped for PowerPC's years ago. In conclusion they should still be useable, but don't expect Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube to work. If you pull the trigger on a Powerbook I would suggest using Ten-Four-Fox, its FireFox but it is optimized for PowerPC!

Sources:

I have owned or own the PowerMac G5, iBook G4, and MacBook Pro!

My husband has been using my old G5 for years and just recently, loading most Web pages started taking upwards of 15 minutes! I downloaded TenFourFox and it's a miracle. Thank you, developers, who haven't forgotten that old Macs are still out there because they're so good. This article was helpful:

http://mac.appstorm.net/reviews/internet-reviews/tenfourfox-the-saviour-of-power pc-web-browsing/

However, there is no Flash plug-in TenFourFox by design - but wait! There is a way to support Flash video. The above article directs to instructions at:

http://lowendmac.com/2011/tenfourfox-and-flash-the-future-of-powerpc-macs-on-the -web/

And here they are:

In the address bar type ‘about:config’ and press enter. Look for ‘tenfourfox.plugins.enabled’ and set it to ‘true’ this will enable Flash. The developers advise against this as it may cause instability issue, but if you need Flash then you have no option. I haven’t had any problems so far and Flash content like YouTube seems to run faster than it did in Safari 5.

So far, no problems for us either, and the trusty old G5 has a new lease on life.

As we speak, I'm using my PowerBook and surfing the web w/ TenFourFox! However, I've begun to notice that even apples website is beginning to "chop" when I scroll up or down the web page. Being the smart guy that I am, I discovered a fairly simple fix that anyone can do. Double the SDRam of the computer. To check how much SDRam you'll need to double, from your desktop (or any application really) look up to the far left corner and you should see a cute little apple like this 

Next you click, "About This Mac" button and a small box will appear. Look for the bolded print which reads "Memory" now to the right of that is your macs current SDRam. Double that number by purchasing higher storage valued cards online or by taking the computer into an apple store.

Again, this worked great for me and I highly suggest giving it a shot.

My computer is a, 17" PowerBook G4. It carries a 1.67GHz PowerPC G4 processor. The memory (was 2GB) 4GB DDR2 SDRAM

Given the total supported RAM memory is half what you suggest, indicates other performance

or maintenance could be done to help the computer; or consider a Mercury Legacy Pro SSD:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Legacy_Pro

There are two models of 1.67GHz CPU PPC 17-inch PowerBook G4, and yours would seem

to be last model. The earlier one cannot use DDR2. Here's RAM spec from MacTracker for yours:

• PowerBook G4 (17-inch Double-Layer SD) 1.67GHz:

Maximum Memory 2.0 GB

Memory Slots 2 - PC2-4200 DDR2 200-pin SO-DIMM (running at 333 MHz)

Introduced October 2005

Discontinued April 2006

Model Identifier PowerBook5,9

Model Number A1139

Order Number M9970LL/A

Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon 9700

Graphics Memory 128 MB DDR

{This model would have been the one shipped with the Double Layer SuperDrive

the G4 processor was left alone from the previous version 17-inch build model}

Do you have a professional performance testing software, or some other means to verify

the change of these chips to an unsupported quantity? (compared to? in original, or other

poor replacement quality) Sometimes a new matching pair of correct spec RAM can be

better than an older build of similar spec RAM. The population of chips on the RAM card

could be of higher quality on a new card.

The Graphics Memory number is not affected by the total system memory population in this.

An aside to the idea of simply doubling the RAM total, does not work on most PowerPC Macs.

Or most others. So while it may appear to have helped in your instance, I'd not recommend it.

Everymac.com, mactracker.ca, among others do not suggest that doubling the RAM will work.

The OWC macsales.com site and crucial.com sites both have correct quality memory to

match up with correctly identified build model Macs. The suggested and recommended

route for performance issues, is to become aware of all the contributing factors. When the

correct spec memory is at the total supported (tested/guaranteed by reputable reseller) the

other option would be to consider an SSD for use in the older ATA/IDE (PATA) system.

Curious that you've seen some improvement by simply doubling RAM over supported totals.

Virtual Memory, hard drive free space used by temp swap files, usually is the other factor.

In any event...

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

How did you do that ? I too have a PB G4 1.67 DDR2 and would like to know how to double the ram ?